Women in History Fiction work - Citadel of Σοφία (Sophia)

The night takes an entirely beautiful scene when the Citadel lights up and bathe the surrounding buildings with a purplish hue. This is the highlight of her day as she ends her sentry duty on The Wall.

"Life is beautiful" Leandred said to herself as she made her way down.

Image from Unsplash by Igor Ovsyannykov

As she walks the street she hears the happy chatter of Initiates who just ended their classes. She remembers being one a year ago and getting her ears pulled by the Mistress of the Initiates as she slept through another class.

History is boring! Why does she need to learn about the "The Sundering" when it has been a thousand years since that happened. It has been centuries since the last time any Behemoths approached the Citadel of Σοφία.

This was the center of Civilization now. The place where women restarted the human race as Man in his endless wars doomed everyone when the nuclear arms race reached its peak as countries green-lighted the use of their nukes.

Millions of lives lost as nuclear mushrooms dotted the land. They had it easy because of the aftermath of the radiation resulted in mutations for both men and women.

Man took on a more primal look as the genetically altered testosterone coursed through their body increasing their body mass, making them have a more aggressive stance and great beards that are filthy and covered with the blood and other humors of their victims, man and beasts.

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More animal than man now having lost rational thought processes and only after fulfilling baser instincts.

They are now called Behemoth for their great size and strength. They are known to be able to do great feats of strength and violence. The days after The Sundering have been told to be the worst as the Behemoths flew into a rampage and started raping and pillaging homes and cities.

The men who did not change quickly saw how helpless they were as the Behemoths crushed their skulls and take the women away.

Yet the women were not entirely helpless as the mutation in them grew slowly but they noticed being able to feel the thoughts of other women in the cell where they were mostly kept by the Behemoths when not used.

It started with Emphatic powers, then psychokinesis. The strongest of them could barely lift the pail they used to clean themselves but they kept honing it. Knowledge is power and with each attempt and emphatically shared the experience they knew they would be able to do it.

Hope kept them alive. Incidentally that was the name of their leader. Leandred always wondered what she really was as heroes often take mythical attributes as tales are told of her heroism. She was told to be the most powerful empath and could feel everyone. She always had a kind word to everyone in the group.

She always loved the story of The Awakening. It was the turning point of civilization.

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The Behemoths are brutes and without mercy. Every year they would choose a woman and would subject all sorts of depravity in front of everyone. This is to keep the women in check and know who their masters are.

From the Alpha Behemoth down to the very youngest Behemoths they would torture the woman endlessly. Often it would last only a few hours because some of the Behemoths get over excited and tear the woman but in this case, someone endured an entire day.

Hope was selected and it was told a number of women volunteered to take her place. With her eyes shining with tears she told them that she would not let anyone endure that for her.

She disrobed in the square while the rest of women are tied to their seats and surrounded by their Behemoth guards. The Alpha approached her and had his fill. Then another and another. The crowd is getting wilder as they anticipate their turn and laugh at those that finished too quickly.

The women could only watch but could not feel Hope. Being the strongest she shielded their minds from the torture. Both Physical and Mental strain would bound to weaken her faster but she held on. She never cried out as they arch her back or whipped her all around. She kept her eyes closed and mentally concentrated on blocking everyone.

The stream of Behemoths almost done and some were already asleep with huge carcasses of animals eaten before them. They had fucked and eaten and were sleepy. Yet the binds that held the women were firmly in place.

At last Hope could not hold on anymore and with a cry, she shouted "Live and make life beautiful!!" and she died before anyone could feel her death throes.

Hope died at that instance. The women felt empty. It was all lost. They could not feel anything as everything was gone. Feeling, sensation, sadness, anger, and pain were all forgotten. Then the world went dark.

They felt a rush of liquid warmth that settled in their bodies filling the emptiness. It felt like a gentle, cool stream. They began to glow a purplish hue and small cuts began to heal. They strained on their binds but it would not budge.

One person attempted to unbind the knots with her mind. It began to move slowly. They kept quiet all the while as the Behemoth drank, ate and slept all around them. One tie removed and it was quickly relayed to the others and given the knowledge how to untie it.

They needed to see the knots and so they untied the person next to them and helped one another. Together they can do it.

Yet what can they do afterward? They did not have any weapons and could not match the strength of the Behemoths. Freedom was so close and yet so far.

They tried to sneak off and was silent as they could but the Alpha sat up and roared to see them untied. He grabbed a hold of the nearest woman, a redhead called Scarlet.

She screamed as she was bear-hugged by the Behemoth and as much as she struggled she could not get free. The women started running out of the square, frightened but still glowing with that etheral purple hue.

Scarlet was lost, they though as they can feel her pain as her chest was being crushed. With purple hued thumbs she attempted to blind the Alpha. It slid like it was water and the Alpha roared with pain and let her go. She started running as fast as she can but she saw another Behemoth look at the Alpha and suddenly took a swipe at him.

Chaos erupted further as Behemoths started turning to one another in a bid to become Alpha. Young Behemoths, presumably the offspring of the Alpha were lifted up and had their skulls bashed in. This was a hostile takeover as the Behemoths banded together in groups and hunted weaker ones.

The women hid in one of the buildings and discussed if they were going to go out and escape or stay and build a fort-like structure here and fight for survival. Most wanted to flee because they only got lucky there but the main argument there without food or weapons they would not last long as either they would starve to death or get scooped up by another group of Behemoths in another settlement.

Scarlet said they should stay. She volunteered to scout the square and see what happened. If they feel that she got captured they should run away. A couple volunteered to go with her and be Protectors. She was afraid and gladly accepted her sisters' offer.

The fighting was fierce and it looked like it spilled over the square as there was a trail of bodies that trailed back. They saw several figures hunched over the fire. These were the winners. The Behemoth that survived the Onslaught. They could barely move and all strength left their limbs. All slumped together.

Scarlet could feel a tiny piece of their pain. It has never happened before. They could never have an emphatic link with the brutes. Then she began to glow and one of the brutes motioned to her direction. Yet they did not move. She was right they did not have any strength left.

Her mind told her to flee and get away while they still can but her body moved closer to the monsters. She was standing atop one and with fury in her eyes, she concentrated all her might on her fingertips and plunged it down his chest. It barely made a dent as the skin was like armor.

She could feel his fear. She could moved to a softer target as she could she a vein throbbing on his neck. She willed it again and the purple hue enveloped her fingertips and she struck bloody flowing from the jugular.

"Protectors to me!" she shouted amidst the animal cries of the Behemoths knowing that they would be slaughtered like animals that night.

Leandred always wondered how that felt having all that blood cover you. As the story said she returned to the building red as if she had bathed in it. Scarlet was her name and so would be the identifier for her.

We were no longer women we were now the Aethereal

Image from Unsplash by
Max van den Oetelaar

The building was a library. The Behemoths had little use for it unless they were too lazy to find kindling. Knowledge of a lost civilization right here. The women devoured the books and with their ability was able to share it with the rest. What would have taken hundreds to years to learn they were able to learn in half a century.

Scarlet became the first Mother Red. She would lead them through both peace and strife as they rescued women from other settlements.

The Protectors were the elite fighting force of the Citadel. Learned in both scholarly and martial prowess. The Mother Reds usually came from their ranks. I hope to become one.

Next came the Adepts who studied all sorts of scientific and psychic studies. The Adepts were able tp meld science and psychic which was eventually called Aether Psychistry. They studied what they now call Aether, the purplish hue that powers us. They were able to create crystal focusing gauntlets that turned our Aether into Psy Blades that could cut through metal.

With this and an amalgram of Karate, Wushu, Taichi and Kung fu formed the basis of the martial arts used by the Protectors in fighting Behemoths. Their armor-like skin butter through our Psy Blades. Scarlet let the first war of liberation against the nearby Behemoth settlements.

Eventually, we knew peace and that story is told to young Initiates like me who are given guard duty in the tower.

We have enjoyed a thousand years of peace but that was to be shattered by the news of Citadel Marian being engulfed in flames. A lone survivor arriving in the city and mind-blasting everyone with the horrific image of The Horde, A large contingent of Behemoths that was rallied by an Alpha who calls himself Maestro

He is ruthless, cunning and had intelligence unlike other Behemoths before. It seems that evolution is not finished with us yet.

There you have it a fiction piece about a dystopian future of genetic mutation of mankind. I asked my team that is composed of females on what would be a good idea for this storyline.

I admit that a lot of the ideas are from Marvel comics with Psylocke as my basis for the Protectors and The Hulk as my image for the Behemoths. I thought of a nuclear war triggering the mutation but having two different branches according to gender.

Males are typically seen as brutes who are driven by lust, anger and greed and Female as otherworldly like Elves and Spirits taking an ethereal existence.

It was fun thinking of the lore for Citadel of Σοφία (Sophia) and I might further develop it as a story in the future.

I am no professional writer but was encouraged to join by the ever fiery @eaglespirit this is in support of #TeamGirlPowa Women's History Month Contest

I support @steemfreelancers

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